First of all, who is Adele Mildred?
Hello! Well, I grew up in Minnesota, my parents met in Paris and my French mother really shaped our childhood, so my siblings and I were in this European bubble in small town USA. Basically, born a weirdo and given the tools to expand on that. I left as soon as I could legally to study Fashion in Seattle, then San Francisco then moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and London in 2008.
How did you first get involved in the fashion industry?
It started in High School, I went to an Arts High and my final project was fashion show, all very 90’s goth/punk. I did a program in Parsons when I was 17 and decided NYC was not for me and went west instead. In retrospect I wish I had gone to Europe to study but I was so shy and it seemed too scary. This was before cell phones were even normal so it was a bigger darker world then. I do everything in baby steps!
What lead to the creation and eventual birth of your labels Adele Mildred and HOOD London?
I had my first clothing line in 1999 called Cotton Candy that was mainly circus and religious inspired knitwear. I brought it with me to Los Angles and sold there in independent boutiques. I would make everything myself and walk in to shops I liked and offer to show my collection which worked for me only because I had like 5 other freelance jobs (as I always do) one of which was doing graphics for Emily the Strange. I folded that line around 2006 and took a break from fashion and focused on painting and showing my art for a few years quite successfully.
I always get drawn back into fashion though and set my sights on Millinery as it seemed more manageable than running an entire clothing business solo. I managed to meet Stephen Jones through a Stylist I was working for and next thing I know I am working on his exhibition at the Victoria and Albert and living in London. I met my HOOD business partner Gabrielle Dangly working for Jones, and that’s a big story involving our mutual passion for hats and disdain for the current hat wearing climate of fascinators (barf) and ascot/wedding grotesquery’s. (I just made that word up, pretty great right?) All hats are NOT created equal which is why we went on this quest to find the best more wearable hats and also help independent milliners sell to a worldwide market. HOOD is a non-profit, slow fashion, made to order, eco conscious company.
Adele Mildred was born out of my non-hat creation needs. I always find something I want that isn’t on the market so I make it and someone else wants one too, you know, that old hat. (pun intended)
For those who don't know about your work how would you describe it?
Luxury goth.
What is the ethos behind Adele Mildred and HOOD London?
I suppose that, you can make a statement without looking like a clown. I know a lot of women shy away from wearing what they may really want to wear for the fear of that. I really believe the pieces we carry are for your inner weirdo to shine, but still look elegant and for Christ’s sake, they are functional too (for the most part) I am so tired of milliners making hats that serve no function. We look through collections and collections and I ask myself why would anyone wear that? It won’t keep your head warm, or the sun out of your eyes. What’s the point? Why would some one spend £300 on that? Of course there are the party hats that are fun, but they need to be able to be worn more than once and match with loads of outfits right? That hot pink and turquoise feathered, flowered, and sequined number will not be worn (and should not) more than once or twice in a lifetime.
I’m a student of Diana Vreeland; anything she says about fashion should be followed religiously.
How do you culminate the ideas and pick the final pieces before launch? Can you explain that process?
I spend years mulling over and perfecting my person designs and launch them only when they finally become a reality, I don’t follow fashion seasonal rules.
HOOD follows seasons and each one we try to pick a new milliner or two to feature and add about 30 or more new hats to the collection. I do all the creative direction, I’ve always been good and picking out trends before they happen and I usually focus on a style and look I want to promote. Last fall it was berets, this summer it was bright and colourful straw sunhats, this fall, well… wait and see!
Your work is a very strong, feminine and has a real old time Hollywood look and a real aura of whimsy about it. Where do you find your inspiration and musings from and how important are the materials in conceptualizing your pieces?
I’m nearly always devouring images, online, books and film. I design mostly out of need, like, I need a summer hat that will shade my face and allow me to wear my hair on top of my head, so next summer most likely you will see that hat on HOOD. I needed a better pair of the Peggy Guggenheim sunglasses which I love but found rather clunky on so I designed my version which I think are far more attractive! I love cult films, I love surrealist artists, directors, and designers, anything weird, glamorous and not of this era.
Throughout your career you have had the opportunity to work with some amazing designers and celebrities such as Dita von Teese, Kat Von D and Charlotte Olympia. Are there any designers, musicians, celebrities etc. that you have not yet had the pleasure of dressing or that you would love to collaborate with?
Yes, I work with the best! Chelsea Wolfe recently bought a pair of my Diamandas, which was strange because I had just been saying to a friend that she should be wearing my pieces and then blamo. I’m just a little bit magic. Hmm, There are so many lovely people out there, I’d love to get Gizzie Erskin in some HOOD pieces and then illustrate a cookbook for her, Kembra Pfahler and Diamanda Galas would look wicked in my sunglasses. Obviously only the strange and unusual need apply.
I’d mostly love to travel back in time and work with the greats like Schiaparelli, Lily Dache, Adrian, and I could go on and on.
Stephen jones, Marc Jacobs, Raf Simmons, Giles, John Galliano are some of the designers you’ve worked with. What little nuggets did you learn from working with such accomplished designers?
I learned so much with Stephen Jones, and through him was able to work with all these other marvellous designers. You have to think on your feet and be quick with your skills or there is no time for you in that world. It’s fairly thankless though, you work all night making the last minuet added hat that’s goes down the runway the next morning and no one knows or cares cause its not your name attached to it, you are just a pair of hands. (as a matter of fact they call the makers in the Dior workroom Les Petites Mains, French for the little hands) The greatest lesson I learned is I am not happy being a worker bee.
Photo © David Edwards |
Photo © David Edwards |
I feel like your personal style is very much an extension of your work. Where do you draw a lot of your own personal style from? Do you have any of your own personal style icons?
Thank you! I do admire a few ladies, presently and from history. I love ladies that have strong looks like Michel Lamy, Vali Myers, The Lava Lady, Diane Pernet, Maila Nurmi.
I aspire to that, I don’t even feel like I’ve achieved that yet, I am on my way there though.
Dita once said to me that the older I get the weirder I am getting. I happily accept that.
Graphic designer, clothing designer, milliner, art director, costumier, celebrity tailor, painter and mother. These are just some of the titles that you have under your belt. Is there anything you can’t do?! How important is staying busy and passionate in cultivating your creativity and productivity?
There is always something new to learn! Presently I’d love to take a jewellery course in soldering and more ceramics…but will have to wait until my baby is a bit bigger. When we stop learning and creating we stop living I believe.
Since your beginnings in the fashion industry you have proven yourself as both a unique and eclectic driving force. What challenges and experiences have you encountered and what’s different today compared your humble beginning?
Not everything I’ve done has been a success; the trick I found is to keep trying. I mostly feel like I am throwing things at a wall, and sometimes they stick, but they mostly fall. I have always thought it would have been much easier if my father had been a rock star, or at the very least very very rich, but alas no, my biggest challenge has been doing this all myself with little business acumen. I am constantly having to apologize my accountant, I’m an artist!
What keeps you going and maintains your passion to keep thriving in a world where it’s becoming harder and harder to avoid “fast fashion” and champion handmade independent fashion and style?
As an artist; I would curl up and die if I wasn’t able to create! I imagine that even if no one liked my work (thankfully some do) I would be a Henry Darger and just create for its own sake. You can’t please everyone but luckily there are many people out there that also feel ill at the sight of a Primark or Kmart. Slow fashion isn’t for everyone, but everyone should shop consciously and know where your £5 shirt comes from and at what cost. (Same goes for food!)
Photo by Andrew Stuart |
Are there any projects you are working on currently you can tell us about?
By the time this comes out these may already be available, but I have a few new sunglasses rolling out later this year, very excited about them. My HOOD partner and I have been struggling to get a children’s book published about David Bowie since before his death and we have just received some unofficial copies to help get it running…if anyone that knows Duncan Jones that would be very helpful, ha! Oh, and I am really excited to have new mugs available soon, I have designed a new set based on antique apothecary jars. Another, ‘why hasn’t anyone else done this yet?’ design. I used to sell them years ago but have given them a new fresh look and added a few more poisons.